MUSLIMS ADDRESS ISLAMIC GROWTH BY EXPANDING CENTER AT PINES MALL

Since the Darul Uloom Institute and Islamic Training Center opened last January in Pembroke Pines, enrollment has crammed the modest 2,000-square-foot center.

Each weekend, more than 350 students and worshipers pack the center - praying wherever space allows. They pray in the center's classrooms, hallways and kitchen area. Sometimes, they place a blanket outside and pray there.

"We use every inch of space we've got," said Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, the institute's principal and co-founder.

Last month, to meet the needs of the growing membership, Mohamed bought an additional 20,000 square feet in the vacant strip mall on Pines Boulevard that currently houses the center. Mohamed expects the new center to open by the end of the year.

Darul Uloom, meaning "house of knowledge" in Arabic, is one of seven Muslim centers in Broward County. But the institute is the only center dedicated to Islamic education six days a week, Mohamed said.

"We want prayer to be part of their [Muslims') lives," said Mohamed, 36, an ameer who teaches at universities and the other Muslim centers in Broward. "Three hours a week at Sunday school is not sufficient."

Students are assigned to classes according to their age and knowledge of Islam. For $20 a month, they learn about Islamic history, how to read and write Arabic, and, eventually, how to read from the Koran - the Islamic holy book. Classes are also offered for people who recently converted to Islam.

Basheer Jumarali of Hollywood quickly enrolled his two children at Darul Uloom last month, just days after moving from New York. Jumarali, who learned of the center from his father, said that teaching his children about Islam is as important as their learning math and English.

"They need a culture to stabilize them," Jumarali said. "Here, they get to interact with others with the same frame of mind."

Azra Masroor, a teacher at the center, agrees with Jumarali, saying that just because people are born Muslims does not mean they know about the religion.

Islam is one of the fastest growing religion in the United States.

But "Americans, in large part, are ignorant to the religion," said Tamara Sonn, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of South Florida. "They think of Islam as a foreign religion, but it's not."

Opening an Islamic center may have been a first step for Mohamed. But his ultimate goal, he said, is to open an Islamic university in Pembroke Pines within the next five years.